The Cave of Dreams
by Eve M
Summary: A young grarrl gets lost on his way to his grandmas house.


-1**The Cave of Dreams**

"Please Mom, I'm FINALLY 12 years old, can't I go visit Gram on my own for once?!?" asked Ressico, a green Grarrl.

Cassie sighed, and looked up from her drawing.

"Ressico, do you really want to travel all the way up Terror Mountain to see Gram? You know how far up she lives in those mountains, and it gets dark quickly and very, very cold. And most of the caves look the same up there!" Cassie asked, walking over to Ressico and putting her arm around him.

Ressico pushed away looking at her, "Of course I do! I love visiting Gram and it would be a great experience. You know someday I'm going to be moving out, and this could teach me great skills!"

"I suppose it would be alright. Pack tonight and you'll leave for the ferry tomorrow. Now, get packing and then get some rest. You'll have to get up early tomorrow to be at her house by Friday!"

Ressico ran up the stairs, dug his suitcase out of his closet, and looked at what to pack. He grabbed his big, fluffy parka from the back of his closet, and laid that on the back of his desk chair. He'd be needing that tomorrow. He then laid out tomorrow's clothes. A navy blue turtleneck sweater, jeans, blue snow boots, a cap, two pairs of mittens, and a ski mask. He then packed all of his winter clothes and a few fall cloths in case it was cooler than expected. He also packed a picture of him and Cassie, on the beach of Mystery Island. His favorite plushie, Scooter, a blue doglefox, and his baby blanket from when he was little.

"There I'm all set for the journey." he said to himself as he zipped up his suitcase and set it by the door.

As Ressico was climbing into bed, Cassie came into his room with a cup of Hot Cocoa.

"I know its in the middle of winter, but you'll have to get used to it, Gram makes it every night up there." she said setting it on his bedside table, and sitting next to him. "Are you sure you're ready for this? I've gone up there once or twice by foot myself, and it's no easy journey."

"I'll be fine Cassie, you don't have to worry about me, I'm a big boy. I can take care of myself."

"I know, you're a strong Grarrl. Now, get to sleep, you don't want to be tired and having to climb that mountain. Good Night." Cassie gave him a kiss, turned out his light, shut the door and walked out.

---x

The next morning, Ressico woke up at 5:00 AM NST to get to the ferry in time. Carrie and him hauled his suitcase out to the car, and stuck in the back seat, then they got in. Ressico was in his Parka, hat, two pairs of gloves, boots, and scarf.

Cassie turned on the engine, then looked over at Ressico. "You know, you look sillier than bear in a tutu in those winter clothes in the middle of summer!"

"Just get to driving, I'm baking like a baked potato under here!" said Ressico irritated.

---x

When the reached the ferry, they put Ressico's stuff in the storage area, then bid their farewells.

"Bye Carrie, I'll call right when I get to Grams house and tonight, and tomorrow night, then I'll see you Sunday!" said Ressico.

"Bye sweetie, be good for Gram and be careful up on that mountain. Stop in Happy Valley for supplies and directions if you have to! Love you!" said Cassie waving as Ressico got on the ferry.

Once Ressico was on, he noticed he was the only one there, except for an old Lenny reading the Neopian Times. Ressico took a seat on the couch across from him, and laid his head down on the arm of it, and was soon snoozing away.

Ressico was soon awakened by the Ferry driver, telling him to get off the Ferry and that they were at his stop. Ressico, grabbed is suitcase from the ferry driver, and jumped onto the snowy ground. He looked ahead, and read the sign in front of him:

_**Happy Valley 15**_

_**Ice Caves 30**_

_**Terror Mountain 60**_

Ressico followed the path towards Snowy Valley, pulling down his Ski Mask, the wind was really biting today. Within the hour, Ressico saw the outskirts of a village and guessed it was Happy Valley so he picked up the pace ignoring his hungry belly.

Once he was at Happy Valley, he stopped, took off his backpack (suit case pack) and searched looking to see what supplies he needed. He soon decided he needed more food and water and snow pants. He swung his pack on his shoulder and headed towards the nearest grocery store, once he was done there, he headed over to the clothing store and bought a pair of snow pants that he quickly slipped on, then headed towards a sign that said:

_**Ice Caves 15**_

_**Terror Mountain 45**_

Ressico decided to go through the Ice Caves since he knew there was a little town tucked away up there and that he'd probably need more food and water once he got up there, so he pulled his ski mask down again, put his pack on both shoulders, and started walking.

Another hour had passed, when Ressico decided to stop and take a look at his map, he was very confused and had come to a fork in the path and couldn't decide which path to take. He sat down on a lump of snow, took off his pack, and searched around for his map, but couldn't seem to find it. So, carefully he took every single piece of clothing, food, and anything else in there and laid them on the ground and saw that he had forgotten his map in the café in Happy Valley!

"Great, just great! This is just what I need, now I'm stuck up on a mountain, and I'm freezing and I can't figure out where to go!" said Ressico to himself kicking a chunk of ice.

After Ressico had put all his things back in his pack, he looked at his watch and saw it was getting close to dinner time, so he thought he'd better pick a path and pick up the pace. He chose the left path since it seemed to go higher than the right.

A couple hours passed, and still no sign of his grandma's house. It was getting late, and the sun was setting, so Ressico thought he should just stay the night in one of the caves, he would get to Gram's house in the morning and then he could explain everything and call his owner. He picked a medium sized cave that looked a little warmer, and laid out his sleeping bag and extra blankets he'd packed, and built a fire.

After dinner, Ressico snuggled up in is sleeping bag and drifted off to sleep, dreaming about all of his Grams wonderful meals, turkey and mashed potatoes, hamburgers, soup, and her famous hot chocolate! The next morning Ressico was woken up to the smell of turkey and mashed potatoes, hamburgers, soup, and hot cocoa. He opened his eyes sleepily and saw that all of these foods were sitting in front of him. He quick jumped up, ran to the cave entrance and yelled, "HELLO!! IS ANYBODY THERE?!" but there was no answer. So Ressico sat down and ate the meal hungrily.

After Ressico had packed everything up in his pack, he started towards the entrance of the cave, but quickly backed up as he saw rocks starting to fall from the ceiling.

"Oh no, I'm getting caved in!" he yelled, making a dash towards the entrance, but he was too late, two huge boulders came down in front of him forcing him to back up. Ressico turned around and ran to the back of the cave as not wanting to be squashed.

"Great, now I'm stuck here for who knows how long, and I'm low on food!" Ressico thought as he sat down, next to his fire pit emptying out his pack once again.

That day Ressico read most of his first book he brought, stared at the wall, read some more, then found himself dozing off. In his dream Ressico was walking through Neopia with a huge stack of books in his hand. He was with his owner Carrie who was also carrying quite a few things, but Ressico couldn't make them out. They went from store to store each buying a few items.

Yawning, and rubbing his eyes, Ressico woke up feeling very homesick for Neopia and Carrie. When he opened his eyes he saw two stacks of books in front of him, along with a few slushies and some clothes. Ressico's jaw dropped and he ran over to him, pinching himself along the way to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

"OW! I guess I'm not dreaming, this is so cool!"

Once he got there, he saw that the books in one pile were the ones he bought in his dream, and the slushies there were the ones Carrie had bought them. Ressico sat and started at them for quite some time, before deciding he was hungry and started to try one of the slushies. As he slurped down his slushie, he wondered why everything out of his dreams was coming true, then he started wondering how he would be able to get out of here.

"I guess I'll just have to keep dreaming of food and books, and toys to keep me occupied. Maybe I could dream up some really tough neopets to move the rocks…." he thought to himself.

Ressico looked back over at the pile of books, and noticed one of them was called "The Cave of Dreams". He picked it up, sat in his bed, and began to read.

---x

About three hours later, Ressico closed the book, his eyes wide and jaw hanging down to his chest.

**"**This…This is the Cave of Dreams they described in the book!!"

Ressico jumped up, and started packing upthe books, and the necessities he wouldn't need that night. Then he set them by his bed, and snuggled up under the covers, it was colder than usual. He started thinking about being at his grandmas, or getting out of the cave, and soon drifted off to sleep.

In his dream, Ressico had woken up in the morning to find all the boulders and rocks magically out of the entrance. He got up, and walked out, to find himself standing in his grandmas house, with her in the doorway ready for a hug.

"Gram!!!" yelled Ressico, dropping his things and hugging her.

When he walked into her house though, everything changed, he was back in the cold cave under his blankets. Ressico, opened his eyes unhappily, sad that his dream was only a dream. But when he rubbed his eyes awake he saw that all the boulders and rocks were out of the entrance. He stood up, rolled up his blankets and sleeping bag, threw them in his pack, and ran out of the cave as fast as he could. Once he was outside, he took a deep breath, then saw it was early dawn. He started as fast as he could towards his grandma's house. And never looked back.

---x

When he spotted his grandmas house, he ran as fast as he could to her door and flung it open, to see his grandma standing in the door way, arms wide.

Ressico dropped his bags, and ran into his grandmas arms, "Gram!! I missed you so much, you wouldn't believe what happened to me!!"

"You can tell me and Carrie all about it after we get you some soup and hot cocoa, now go put your stuff in your room and come in the kitchen." said Gram.

"Carrie's here?! Really!" yelled Ressico grinning.

"Of course she is, she's sleeping on the couch, I'll wake her, so be quiet on the way to your room."

Ressico ran as quietly as he could to his room, threw his clothes into the dresser, tore off his layers, put on fresh pajamas, and ran into the kitchen, bringing the book 'Cave of Dreams' with him.

When he saw his owner, Carrie, standing in the kitchen he threw the book on the table and ran into her open arms.

"Carrie, I missed you soooo much!" said Ressico.

"Sweetie, I was worried sick about you! What in neopia happened?!" Carrie said guiding Ressico over to the table.

Ressico grabbed his book, and explained the whole thing, from beginning to end, not leaving out a single detail.

Soon enough, neopets and their owners from all over were checking out the Cave of Dreams, and it was soon made a campsite, where people could reserve that cave for one night, or for a weekend. And the book about that cave sold millions of copies world wide!

Of course, Ressico was long forgotten, but he'll never forget his adventure, and he still has his books, and a few turkey bones, for proof.


End file.
